City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Chris Stewart (@BigStewMVP)
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BURLINGTON, N.J. -- Team Final held its annual season-opening AAU scrimmage on Saturday, bringing in several other programs from Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL), the Albany City Rocks (N.Y.) and Team Takeover (Md.)--plus a few others--to the courts at Life Center Academy.

Here’s a notebook from the day’s events:

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Lonnie Walker (2017/Reading, Pa./Team Final)

From demonstrating his crafty handle, to soaring for slam dunks after a steal on the other end, Walker continued to show why he is one of the most highly-touted prospects for the class of 2017 with an impressive morning showing in a big win over Team Melo.

Ranked No. 23 in the ESPNU Super 60, Walker is a hot commodity amongst Division I schools, saying Villanova is recruiting him the hardest out of a group of programs that also includes Indiana, UCLA, Oregon and more.

“(SMU head coach) Larry Brown came to my school yesterday,” he added. “Syracuse and UConn. Its starting to get worse, but mainly Villanova.”

However, the national championship for Villanova this season is not going to weigh heavily on his future decision.

“I mean it’s nice that they won, it’s amazing how they won and everything,” Walker said. “But I have one more year then next year. We don’t know who’s going to be there, who’s staying, who’s leaving. They’re still one of my top contenders by far because they show me the most love and they believe in me.”

Walker at the moment has not scheduled any visits to these schools, but will be entertaining the option in the coming months.

Expect Walker’s offers to keep piling up over the next few months and some official and unofficial visits to take place in the near future.

Coming off a junior season where he averaged 16.9 ppg and led Reading into the PIAA Class AAAA semifinals, he’ll make his return to the EYBL, where he played up last year with a 17U group that included Penn State commits Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens, among others.

That experience helped him understand exactly what separated him from the ultra-elite high school players in the country.

“Everyone is as athletic, you have to find different ways. You have to be smarter than other players,” he said. “Everyone knows how to do certain things. You have to do the little things.

“I want to work mainly on my post moves, my aggressiveness, handling the ball, my jump-shot,” he added.

If Walker can incorporate any of those skill sets into his arsenal, expect him to potentially climb up even higher in the rankings.

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Eli Brooks (2017/Spring Grove/Jersey Shore Warriors)

Spring Grove (Pa.) doesn’t see many Division I recruits.

The last time someone came out of the town of around 2,000 in York County, near the Pennsylvania-Maryland border, and went to play D-I hoops, it was 1981, when Randy Cozzens graduated and went on to play at West Point.

Brooks will certainly break that trend, as the 6-2 point guard enters his final AAU summer with a full 10 Division I offers, including George Mason, Lehigh, Bucknell, Monmouth and Penn. As a junior at Spring Grove, he earned second team all-state honors in leading the Rockets to the state tournament for the first time ever.

And he’s enjoying being a bit of a star in the small town.

“Definitely little kids’ faces are the most fun thing,” he said. “It’s great, people are pushing me to become even better throughout my area, giving me confidence, and all the fans that support me.”

Brooks is sure to convert a number of other fans this summer if he continues to play like he did against Maryland/DC-area EYBL squad Team Takeover, dropping 21 points even when matched up against future high-major guard like Chris Lykes (above) and Aaron Thompson.

He was fluid from beyond the 3-point arc, knocking down four triples, and that’s no accident.

“I think my jump shot has improved a lot, 3-point shooting,” he said. “That’s what you have to have for the next level because you’re not always going to get to the basket.”

For the moment, Brooks said that Lehigh has been in touch with him the most out of the schools that have offered, mentioning assistant coach Kyle Griffin specifically. But the Mountain Hawks might have to compete against some high-level programs soon enough.

Temple, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s have all been out to Spring Grove to see Brooks play, and he’s been hosted at numerous SJU games this season. A few more performances like his one on Saturday afternoon, and schools at that level should certainly be extending some scholarships.

“I’ve put more hours into the gym this year than I have any other year,” he said. “I just want to take my game to the next level, and continue getting looks. Hopefully the work pays off, it paid off in the high school season, hopefully it translates to AAU season.”

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Chris Lykes (2017/Gonzaga, D.C./Team Takeover)

Lykes comes into the summer with his variety of offers trimmed down to a list of five schools. The schools that made the cut, in no particular order: Notre Dame, Georgetown, VCU, Villanova, and Miami.

Here are Lyke’s unedited thoughts on the five schools:

Villanova: “They run a three-guard offense, they switch defenses, they’re coached well by coach Jay Wright, so they’re a good school for me”

Notre Dame: “Coach (Mike) Brey does a lot of things for their point guards. They have Demetrius (Jackson) there who’s a good player.”

Georgetown: “They’re trying to change their style of play, they need someone to come in and do that.”

VCU: “VCU is the offensive style for me, run and gun. They press a lot, so closely examining them as well.”

Miami: “They run a lot of ball screens, which is what I like to do.”

This is not a final list for the 5-foot-6 guard out of Gonzaga High School in Washington D.C., who’s open to offers from new schools over the summer, but more a paring-down of the 15 offers he’d received thus far.

Lykes wants to make a college decision before his senior basketball campaign begins and there’s components of his game that he would like to improve this summer to help better his game.

Already, he has a very mature floor game and a killer outside shot, which he showed in knocking down six triples in a win over the Jersey Shore Warriors.

“I want to just make sure to work on the strategy of being a floor general, my stamina, my range,” he said.

Villanova winning the national championship this year was no surprise to Lykes, who knew the talent that Villanova possessed, especially because went to the same high school as one of their players.

“I always thought well of Villanova. Them winning the championship I thought they were a very good team this year. Kris Jenkins was there, who went to Gonzaga,” Lykes said.

Jenkins is the one of the biggest pieces that fueled Villanova’s title run this season, including the buzzer-beater to seal their fate in the championship.

Lykes said when it comes ultimately deciding his future school, he’s looking at “style of play, who’s there, the recruits going there. Wherever you go, you’re going to have to win your spot.”

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Jimmy Boeheim (2017/Jamesville-DeWitt HS/Albany City Rocks)

With Division I coaches banned from watching AAU action before next weekend’s live period, it was somewhat surprising to see Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim stroll into the gym at Life Center Academy.

But the Orange’s leader for the last 40 years was in town to watch his two sons play, beginning with his oldest. And after a slow start, Jimmy Boeheim didn’t disappoint, finishing with 15 points in a win over Team Final Black.

A 6-foot-6 wing forward, Boeheim showed the ability to stretch the floor with an early 3-pointer, and then broke loose in the second half by running the floor hard and finishing around the rim, taking advantage of several mismatches to attack the rim off the bounce.

After previously playing with a local program, the Syracuse Nets, during his summers, this was Boeheim’s first experience with his new program.

“I’m looking forward to being on the EYBL circuit,” he said. “A lot more athletic guys, a lot more skilled guys. THe game’s a lot faster, up-and-down. It’s a lot of fun.”

He’s used to putting up big numbers in the scoring column, off a senior year at Jamesville-DeWitt in which he averaged north of 20 ppg.

He’ll be taking a prep year in the fall, with hopes of securing a Division I scholarship; for now, he’s without an offer, but his offensive versatility and motor could certainly attract some low-to-mid-major schools.

“I can shoot the 3 and I like to use my ability to shoot the 3 to get to the rim, then I can use my height,” he said.

Of course, basketball IQ isn’t much of a concern.

His dad has learned a bit through his 989 wins at Syracuse--and certainly more from the 347 losses--and has passed that on through his basketball-playing sons, including Jimmy and Jack “Buddy” Boeheim, a sophomore at Jamesville-DeWitt.

“I don’t know if I could pick one thing, he’s taught me so much,” Jimmy Boeheim said. “He taught me how to play completely. I don’t know if I could say one thing, exactly.”

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Quick Hits
--Archbishop Carroll 2016 G Ryan Daly is suiting up with the Jersey Shore Warriors this month, as the Catholic League MVP is looking to bring in as many suitors as he can after re-opening his recruitment from a prior commitment to Hartford just a few weeks back. The 6-4 guard, one of the best bucket-getters in the area, has already heard from several Ivy/Patriot schools, and is taking an unofficial visit up to Holy Cross in two weeks.